Post Comment - Blue's News

Assault on Dark Athena DRM Backlash

[Apr 09, 2009, 11:46 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

The Starbreeze Forums and Atari Forums for The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena each have threads complaining about the game's DRM, describing a non-revocable three-installation limit that does not allow further installations after it has been reached. This has inspired another protest centered on the reviews on the Amazon listing for the game, where an increasing number of reviews complain about the DRM. We contacted Atari about this and received the following response:

The protection on the PC version of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is an activation system with online authentication required the first time you install the game on a machine. The activation code lets you install the game on up to 3 machines, with an unlimited number of installs on each assuming that you don’t change any major hardware in your PC or re-install your operating system.

If you reach the maximum number of installations you can contact the Atari hotline and if it’s a legitimate request you can get a new activation code.

We implement this protection in an effort to avoid early piracy.

Post Comment
Enter the details of the comment you'd like to post in the boxes below and click the button at the bottom of the form.

95.

Re: On Dark Athena DRM

Apr 10, 2009, 15:49

Jerykk

For all the bitching I see about capitalism on the Internet from pirates and college girls, I have yet to see someone offer a better alternative. History has shown time and time again the alternatives don't work, so this is what we have. I agree that capitalism is the most effective economic system thus far. However, morality isn't part of the equation. The goal in capitalism is to make as much money as possible and that usually entails a distinct lack of morality, as evident by Atari's use of DRM. A fundemental aspect of capitalism is you support those who make a good product or service you want to see continue... A fundamental aspect of capitalism is giving people a reason to give you money. DRM doesn't do this and instead gives a people a reason not to give you money. So are all FPS games released since Wolfenstein clones that deserve no money? Deserve? This isn't a matter of what deserves to happen. From what I've read, Titan Quest is a solid Diablo-clone that fans of Diablo would probably enjoy. However, what deserves to happen is rarely what actually happens. PC's deserve to the lead platform for gaming but they aren't. Space sims and adventure games deserve attention from American publishers but that doesn't happen. PC games deserve the same amount of marketing as console games but that doesn't happen. Did Iron Lore deserve better? Sure. But in capitalism, it isn't about what you deserve, it's about what you get and Iron Lore didn't get enough consumers interested in their games.

Subject

Comment [quote="Jerykk"Apr 10, 2009, 15:49]q[For all the bitching I see about capitalism on the Internet from pirates and college girls, I have yet to see someone offer a better alternative. History has shown time and time again the alternatives don't work, so this is what we have.]q I agree that capitalism is the most effective economic system thus far. However, morality isn't part of the equation. The goal in capitalism is to make as much money as possible and that usually entails a distinct lack of morality, as evident by Atari's use of DRM. q[A fundemental aspect of capitalism is you support those who make a good product or service you want to see continue...]q A fundamental aspect of capitalism is giving people a reason to give you money. DRM doesn't do this and instead gives a people a reason i[not]i to give you money. q[So are all FPS games released since Wolfenstein clones that deserve no money?]q Deserve? This isn't a matter of what deserves to happen. From what I've read, Titan Quest is a solid Diablo-clone that fans of Diablo would probably enjoy. However, what i[deserves]i to happen is rarely what actually happens. PC's deserve to the lead platform for gaming but they aren't. Space sims and adventure games deserve attention from American publishers but that doesn't happen. PC games deserve the same amount of marketing as console games but that doesn't happen. Did Iron Lore deserve better? Sure. But in capitalism, it isn't about what you deserve, it's about what you get and Iron Lore didn't get enough consumers interested in their games. [/quote]

;) :( :o %) :) :| ;P X| :D More

If you have a signature set up, it will be automatically appended to your comment.
If you don't already have a Blue's News user account, you can sign up here.
Forgotten your password? Click here.

Email me when this topic is updated.

Special Codes

b[bold text]b
i[italic text]i
u[underline text]u
-[~~strikethrough text~~]-
c[code text]c
+[bullet point]+
q[quote text (indented)]q
[quote="Author"]quote text (indented)[/quote]
[url=Link]text[/url]
r{red text}r
g{green text}g
b{blue text}b
m{maroon text}m
s{secret text (shows in the background colour)}s

Forum Rules

Disagree all you want but attacks of a personal nature will not be tolerated.
Ethnic slurs and homophobic language will not be tolerated.
Do not post spam, links to warez sites, or instructions on how to obtain pirated software.
Abusing the forums in any manner that could be construed as 'griefing' will not be tolerated.